Re: Madame Janette
 

Shame on MJs for either
a) deliberately stiffing customers
b) accidentally stiffing customers
c) having the staff not know how to add/subtract

Re: Madame Janette
 

i will be able to give you a reply to a, b, or c if anyone can tell me what the owner looks like, although if you have a staff that can't add or subtract go back to using the register tape totals that you used to use, lol.

so anyone here who can describe the owners?

Re: Madame Janette
 

Sherry, go to their web site: http://www.madamejanette.info/

Scoll down to the bottom of the page and you'll see a picture of Ramon, Sabine, and Kasi.

Re: Madame Janette
 

well, i am happy to say it wasn't sabine. maybe the owners don't know. actually, i should say, maybe they didn't know. i am hoping word filters back.

Re: Madame Janette
 

i hate to say this but i seem to be wrong. i have found out since i wrote this post that sabine has cut her hair and now very likely matches the description. the woman who brought the check was the same person who seated us. i was hoping it wasn't her but now think it is more than possible. however, i will try to check with the other people at dinner. since we are not staying anywhere near each other that might take some time. i would hate to think that sabine was involved.

Re: Madame Janette
 

Chef Kasi is a frequent visitor to the "other" bb. Maybe this thread should be posted over there to get a reaction from them? He defends his restaurant all the time by posting over there!

Just a thought?

Re: Madame Janette
 

maybe it would be better if he is directed to our board since he needs to defend himself for something that happened to me? elisabeth, that could be your job. it is only fair that he has a voice.

Re: Madame Janette
 

As usual sherry, you took the words out of my mouth. There are many people who don't read the other boards. It would be smart on his part to make a visit "here" and tell us why he thinks this is happening, and what he's going to do to correct the problem. It certainly is to his benefit to "talk to us."

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Re: Madame Janette
 

The lady that sat you and brought the check is not Sabine. Sabine is a very pretty lady with blond hair and dresses very nicely. The hostess lady is tall (I think she's tall) with very short hair. Sabine is not usually there early in the evening. You will see her walking around the dining rooms greeting people.

Re: Madame Janette
 

You think I should PM him over there and invite him here? Is that the best way?

Re: Madame Janette
 

I know I'm not sherry, (think she's already gone for the afternoon) but that sounds like a good idea, elisabeth. I'd just tell him in the PM that there's something he should know about that isn't flattering to MJ's, and needs to be addressed here on this site.

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Re: Madame Janette
 

Ok here's what I wrote:

"Chef Karsten,

There has been some talk on another BB about MJ's and they would like to invite you to their BB to discuss. Here's the site and actual thread I think you'd be interested in reading: http://bb.visitaruba.com/showthread.php?t=2295

Hope you can come over and help.

Thanks "

I also noticed on their own website they have a message board now but lets see what this brings first!!!

Elisa

Re: Madame Janette
 

Great, elisabeth...thanks!
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Re: Madame Janette
 

i agree elaine, that was a great pm elisabeth. thanks! i hope he does join us so we can help him out.

btw, the person who first delivered the check was definitely the tall skinny woman. i agree with liz that it is not sabine from the pictures i have been sent. that does make me feel better.

Re: Madame Janette
 

We have never had a problem with MJ's re: bill. We go every March at least 3 times while there. I have read of an instance where the server presented the bill in Florins not dollars. It was corrected immediately. They used to list prices in Florins and Dollars on the menu.
crosby

Re: Madame Janette
 

yes i remember those days. this was not a florin/usd screw up. i wish it was. it has been one of our favorite places since they opened. we even had a surprise birthday party there for hubby 5 years ago.

it is a very easy problem to solve if they have someone on the staff faking the bills. all they need is a computerized register rather than hand written bills. let the manager do the final bill. easy solution that will save customers.

Re: Madame Janette
 

Thanks!

Hope your having a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Madame Janette
 

Kasi does read this BB Sherry. He has PM'd me and posted to me here before.

Re: Madame Janette
 

thanks chris... i hope he responds. if an employee is tarnishing his reputation he has the right to know and the right to respond.

Re: Madame Janette
 

And he is an upstanding guy, so I'm sure he will respond. Other wise, you can call Job, the manager there....good looking tall guy with blonde hair. He's his right hand man. :wink_smil

Re: Madame Janette
 

It is sad for me to have to write my first post on this board with regards to this problem.
Chef Kasi is in Europe so he can not respond to this problem.
I however can, I thank all of you guys to point this out to us. I can only say that we as a restaurant would never try to cheat our guests. We have been pretty good at creating a loyal crowd of repeat guests, and with that every day we get lot's of first timers to our restaurant. This is because of all the great comments you guys make on the different boards in reference to our restaurant and your experience you had here. Off course sometimes things go wrong, also at MJ, but we do not make deliberate miscalculations! We have a large service staff, but only myself, Chris, Sabine and Ramon make the checks, not anybody else. So there is nobody trying to cheat to make some extra cash. The waiters do not influence our calculations. And Chris and myself work both from the beginning here already and I can speak for the both of us, MJ is our home and family! We would not jeopardize anything that goes against the best interest of the restaurant. I'm sure that everyone that knows us agrees with that.

This particular incident, which happened Monday night, was a miscalculation from me. I just went through all the checks from Monday and I figured out what happened. Instead of charging $8,50 for a Brown Lady, I charged $85 for it. The total of the "wrong" bill came to $363, and the total of the corrected split bills came to $192 and $94.50, that totals $286.50. The difference is $76.50. If you add that $8.50 for the drink it comes to the $85. That is exactly what I charged for that drink.
I hope you understand my calculation here, but that is what happened. A simple 85 instead of 8.5.
I'm just glad someone saw the mistake before I charged any card.

In regards to the incident from last year, off course I can not explain, since I can not take a look at that check.

I hope I cleared this issue, and that you guys all understand what happened Monday. Myself and Chris, together with Ramon and Sabine, will try even harder not to have mistakes happen, by even recalculating every check that we make before it goes to the table.
In this way we really hope to minimize any mistakes made.

Any questions or comments can be made here on this board or directly to us at mjrestaurant@setarnet.aw

Yours sincerely,
Job de Reeper
Maitre'd Madame Janette Restaurant

Re: Madame Janette
 

Job, I'm a friend of Sherry's and I spoke to her early this evenng. She was about to leave the resort to go out for dinner and asked me to check the bulletin board to see if you had posted and that if you had to to let you know that she'll respond when she returns to the resort later this evening.

Re: Madame Janette
 

Job
you are one class act
thank you for your post
i cannot speak for sherry, but for myself i am so glad to hear that you followed through and showed the math error!!!

sherry and i and 6 others were the large party last august that had the $102 error and, we treated it as that..............an error and accident.........nothing more.

i suspect that sherry will post her thoughts.

thank you so much
andrea

Re: Madame Janette
 

job, i will accept your reasoning but i will add a suggestion. get a register that totals as you go. your system is one that makes it easy to make mistakes. if my bill was in error twice in two visits that is twice too often. until then, i would suggest that everyone check their bills not just at mj's but at any restaurant that doesn't use a modern system. if we hadn't the loss between the two visits would have been $179. that is the equivalent of dinner for 4. your restaurant is way too classy to lose business over someone who's skills at math lack something, lol.

Re: Madame Janette
 

I agree with Sherry's suggestion, not just with a restaurant but anywhere that uses a system which allows for the possibility of human error.

The problem with a place like MJ's is that because the food is so good:
1 - guests are already somewhat accustomed to paying more than 'normal'
2 - dinner at MJ's is somewhat of an event, often involving parties of 4+
3 - the result is that when the bill comes it gets paid without being reviewed. Why wouldn't it?

Kudos to Sherry for breaking out the pencil and paper, and to Job for his up front explanation. Now let's fix the problem.

I'll have the almond encrusted grouper please!

Re: Madame Janette
 

Please allow us to 'second' the positive comments about Job's response. We ALL make mistakes! All it takes is owning up to them that will make this world a better place. Job has done that in a most admirable fashion. With regard to manual versus register tallies of a bill...we always make it a rule to check over the bill in any case. Computers have been known to make mistakes (or, shall I say, once again, 'human error' on input). In any event, MJ's still remains our number one choice for dinner, with Suzanne being our number one favorite wait person!!!

:) :) :) :)

Re: Madame Janette
 

Hi Everyone! I'm new to this board but I have to say how impressed I am that Job admitted his error. How easy would it have been to pass that error on to someone else -- very, very admirable. Those are the kind of employees management wants! Kudos to Job!! And -- kudos to Sherry for getting to the root of the problem instead of blasting away on all the other boards before the facts were in. Another admirable trait. I think I like this board!!!! :regular_s

Re: Madame Janette
 

Welcome 2nd Trip to the Visit Aruba board. Hope to see you often here.

Re: Madame Janette
 

Thanks Liz! It's definitely on my favorites list now!!:wink_smil

Re: Madame Janette
 

Excellent meal as usual!! Lamb Rack was outstanding, and I have no clue what everyone else had at our table - I was way too busy enjoying mine:omg_smile

Re: Madame Janette
 

My wife and I just returned from our 3rd annual December week in Aruba, and first time eating at Madam Janette. Expensive but enjoyed it to the max. I had the Shrimp Caserole, my wife had the Tornadoes of Beef*.

This was on Christmas evening (the 25th) despite that MJ is normally closed on Tuesdays. Our resort desk (La Quinta) was pretty sure they'd be closed.

Although we were mostly waited on by one blonde gal, quite a few servers checked on us, took parts of our order, gave us our bill, etc.

Bernie in CT

* The Tornadoes reminded us of our first trip to Aruba, which was as part of our Honeymoon trip in 1968! We had the modified American plan and what we think was the Americana Hotel, and one of our favorite meals was Tornadoes of Beef.

Re: Madame Janette
 

My husband Paul and I just returned from our annual 2 weeks in Aruba and no trip to this "Happy Island" is complete without a meal at Madam Janette's. We know how large the portions are so we ordered only the main course. I had the prime rib and Paul had the tornadoes of beef, his favorite. Both were excellant and the service was top notch.
Will be back in Feb. for another fabulous meal.

So Whats Good on the Menu at Madame Janettes?
 

Going to give it a try sometime within the next 3 weeks.

Who has had what there?

Personal fave raves and recomendations please.

Thanks,John and Janet

Re: So Whats Good on the Menu at Madame Janettes?
 

I love to talk food and MJ's.

My all time favorite there is/was Lobster Thermidor. In 2006, they suddenly removed it from the menu. I was devastated.

Low and behold, the owner/chef came onto the BB and read my post regarding how upset I was, and he told me to order it anyway when I arrived on the island. I did just that last March '07 and sure enough, they made the dish for me and it was fantastic. I plan on ordering it again, as I am returning in 2.5 weeks (for 3 weeks!).

I have also had their Chilean Black Seabass Filet, Shrimp Casserole, Almond Grouper, and Argentine Tenderloin Delight and all were fantastic.

Re: Madame Janette
 

I get the same thing every time we go - the shrimp casserole du chef. It is wonderful. My husband finally tried the almond grouper last year and is already talking about getting it again this year (we go in May)!

Re: Madame Janette
 

No Reservations Accepted for the next TWO Months.

was the story today when we did a walkthru.

The suggestion was made to stop back in the evening and since it was only two of us for dinner there may be a possibility to squeeze us in.

I gotta admit the place has a wonderful aroma about it,but I am turned off to the NO Reservations.

We may still see if we can be squeezed.

Oldmics

Re: Madame Janette
 

that is so crazy old mics. i would feel exactly like you do. i am not going to 'stop by' when i can make a reservation at another restaurant.

Re: Madame Janette
 

I just wanted to correct that Madame Janette Restaurant is not booked for the coming 2 months, we are very busy and the coming 2-3 weeks the populair seating times 7-8 are booked though. Either late or early seatings are almost every day open to the day itself.
Since it is so booked up in advance we always have some late cancellations/ no-shows, that space will be used for walk-ins. That is why on a normal day(no rain) a walk-in for 2-4 persons has an average wait of 30 minutes. If we have lot's of walk-ins already this might run up to 1 hour..
If it rains we can't accept any walk-ins, since we will need every (dry)table for reservations.
I hope that I clarified this enough, otherwise please email us at mjrestaurant@setarnet.aw

Job de Reeper
Madame Janette Restaurant

Re: Madame Janette
 

My husband and I had a great dinner here on Valentines day. I had made reservations before by internet. The only time we could get was 9:30. It was well worth the wait. Our server was Jorge (George from Yemanja's) He's been at MJs for about a month. Even at that late hour, he was energized.

Re: Madame Janette
 

We have reservations at MJ for the first week in May, celebrating our anniversary. My husband loves loves loves the almond grouper BUT he was recently diagnosed with a wheat and gluten allergy. I emailed them and Job verified that they do use breadcrumbs in the coating for the grouper. Mike is so disappointed. Anyway, my question is, what else would you guys recommend he try? I have mentioned to him that they are known to have excellent steaks, but he really prefers to eat seafood when in Aruba. Not a big shrimp fan, so my casserole is not something he has any interest in. Any other dishes come to mind that are exceptional? As long as they don't contain wheat?

I also am curious about the shrimp casserole appetizer they list - is that a small version of the shrimp casserole du chef, with the gouda cheese? I love that dish, but have been thinking about trying the Old Butcher Steak - if I knew I could get the shrimp casserole as an appetizer, I would be more inclined to try the steak....so if anyone has tried that appetizer, can you tell me if it is the same dish?

Thanks! :teeth_smi

Re: Madame Janette
 

Always get the shrimp appetizer and to me it is the same as the entree. My favorite dish is the veal chop or rack of lamb. We have bewen eating at MJs since they opened and have never had a meal we didn't love. E-mail Job and ask him if any fish item can be made without what your husband can't have. They are very accommodating. We will be there next week and can 't wait. Enjoy!

Re: Madame Janette
 

This certainly would not qualify as wheat or gluten free, so it won't help your husband. We eat there every year and this was the first year I tried the chocolate souffle and it was absolutely to die for.......I think I would take the 5 hour flight down there just for dessert one night!

Re: Madame Janette
 

This was our third visit to Aruba....first to MJ's. We went with friends, and we had a wonderful meal! Dh and another friend took the surf and turf...both found the Lobster tail over cooked, but the filet mignon very good. Doc took the Veal cutlet...that was huge!!! And delicious. I had the almond crusted grouper..and it was as good as it's reputation!! We had the au gratin potatoes, and our frinds took the Dutch potatoes. It was all good, but I preferred the au gratin. Wesly was our waiter, and he was very attentive, full of energy, and quite a hoot! He really did add to the experience. We were actually interacting with patrons at other tables at times, our corner was having a great time!!
I would highly recommend this restaurant. We did not have dessert...too full!!!

Re: Madame Janette
 

We had dinner at MJ last Friday night. I had been emailing with Job regarding wheat/gluten allergies (my husband was recently diagnosed) and Job told me to just ask for Chris when we came in.

Well, first of all, they treated us to champagne cocktails when we arrived (celebrating our 18th anniversary). Then, my husband and Chris had a short discussion about his allergies. Chris excused himself and returned 5 minutes later to let us know the chef felt he could closely duplicate the Almond Grouper for Mike without breadcrumbs. I of course ordered my usual shrimp casserole. Mike got a gigantic caesar salad appetizer, and I had some sort of mushroom appetizer. The Almond Grouper came out and looked almost identical to their usual dish, and Mike loved it. My shrimp casserole was as good as it always is. I had two cosmopolitans (I swear every year they get better). We had a wonderful time, and the best service of our entire trip.

I just love this place!! My only regret is that we only made it there once. We'll remedy that next year!

Re: Madame Janette
 

Having been to Aruba for the past 8 years, and having heard so much about Madame Janette's, this year we decided to check it out...but not before we got the REAL scoop from Aruba residents. I have always said that if you want to find the best food, ask a local. So, with numerous recommendations and a local couple in tow (our resort entertainment manager and his lovely wife) we experienced Mme J's. The atmosphere of the restaurant, especially the outside dining area, was warm, friendly and truely wonderful. We almost felt like we were dining in our own back yard. The four of us had completely different meals, but all tasted each other's and I can say that all were beyond spectacular. Randell had the grouper, Natalie had the chicken cordon bleu with white asparagus (biggest cordon bleu I have ever seen), Ginger had the 8 oz filet, and I had the rack of lamb. Personal note: it was the first time I have ever had lamb without a hint of mint in the sauce and it was an epiphany. The service was exceptional. The only negative thing that I can say is that I am angry with myself for missing out on Mme J's for 7 years. You can bet big money that we will be back there again next year.

Re: Madame Janette
 

This is our favorite restaurant on the island. We have been to Aruba 6 times (7 starting Saturday) and never miss a night at MJ's. I have had ups and downs at all the rest of the restaurants on the island (except Que Pasa our #2) but MJ's is always consistent with a great meal and ambiance.

I will try the grouper this time after reading all the replies!

Re: Madame Janette
 

After reading such favorable reviews, my entire party (4 of us) were extremely dissapointed. I will not waste my time / money at Madame Janette's this year.

Re: Madame Janette
 

What happened that disappointed you so much?

Re: Madame Janette
 

Re: Madame Janette
 

Just goes to show you...(or is it....Just shows to go you)...at any rate, it proves what I've said all along....Whether we are judging hotels, beaches, sights to see, restaurants, etc. etc....we each have an opinion. What's one man's gold is another man's trash. We are all entitled to our opinions... some will not return to MJ's in the future. As for us....we'll be there at least twice during our stay in Aruba in Oct/Nov. It still remains our favorite.

As for Flying Fishbone....Not worth the trip!! Don't need animals roaming at our feet while we are paying those prices for dinner!!

See??? That's our opinion!!!

We respect yours!!!